Social is a far cry from the tatty pub it replaced. Despite some near-cliché hip elements—yet another Hemingway drinking quote on the wall—this 118-seat dinner destination surprises with sophisticated cooking behind a menu deep with enticing dishes. When pressed for a category, Jeffrey Boullt, the executive chef who has lived and worked in several states, settles for Progressive American with Southern influences.

Event Calendars

O.C. abounds with restaurants eager to pamper couples looking for a special night out. Katherine Nguyen offers seven suggestions for date-night destinations, from casual Kettlebar to sumptuous Studio at the Montage.

More Life in O.C.

Just across the freeway from downtown San Juan Capistrano, Marbella Plaza offers top-notch restaurants and an upscale boutique, each with a distinct style and vibe, away from the hustle and bustle of the historic district.

The mind-boggling array of products bearing the John Force name

As part of his relentless quest for revenue to finance his racing empire, John Force has licensed a mind-boggling array of products that trade on his name. (Click here for our feature story on John Force: “The 300-MPH Burn Rate”.) A few of the more exotic items:

Yorba Linda’s John Force rules the fast, dangerous, and wildly expensive world of professional drag racing. But with his $24 million-a-year overhead, how long can the aging motorsports superstar keep going?

It’s still a few hours before drag racing legend John Force will compete at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. But as the 64-year-old Yorba Linda man makes his way through the autograph- and picture-seeking fans on the track’s fringes, he’s already clad in the bulky, uncomfortable-looking fireproof suit that drivers customarily don just before a race.

Lynsi Snyder, the youthful president of Irvine-based In‑N‑Out Burger— and one of America’s wealthiest women—has been as low profile as the fast-food chain’s menu is legendary. Until now.

Comfortable in a settee in her high-ceilinged office, Snyder leaves her tall iced coffee untouched as she recounts the two occasions she was nearly abducted. The first was when she was 17 and a high school student in Northern California. The second occurred in Baldwin Park when she was 24 and working in management at In‑N‑Out. “I ran across the highway,” she recalls of her escape. She pegged her would-be kidnappers for criminals out to nab an heiress, because “they had a van with boarded-up windows.”

Over the years, the In-N-Out faithful have fueled their obsession by concocting odd special-order variations on the chain’s famously minimalist fare. The so-called “secret menu” is such a familiar part of In-N-Out’s identity that the company publishes its own version with items such as the animal-style burger, which features mustard cooked into the patty. But here are a few even more offbeat secrets, gleaned from fan websites.

How a Fashion Island skin-cream peddler plunged face-first into the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of TV home shopping networks and became an international star

Tustin Ranch’s Ron Cummings, on camera in the studio of Sydney’s TVSN channel, is momentarily taken aback. “I’ve called to perv on Ron a bit,” the caller had just said in her thick Australian accent. Perv? It isn’t until later that someone explains to the skin-care entrepreneur that in Aussie slang, it’s a verb that means, “I think you’re hot.”

Unwanted Memorabilia & Myths About Serial Killers

Thirty years after his arrest in Orange County, one of California’s deadliest and most depraved serial killers still lives and breathes on San Quentin’s death row. Our feature poses the question: What’s wrong with this picture? This web-exclusive supplement extends the print feature.

UPDATE: Dykstra was released from Victorville Federal Correctional Complex on June 20, 2013, after serving time for bankruptcy fraud. He was sentenced in December 2012 to 6 1/2 months in prison for hiding baseball gloves and other heirlooms from his playing days that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing. He’d already served seven months in custody […]